


Burning Skies

by Ferith12



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alderaan, Character Death, Gen, It's about the death star so...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-22 00:16:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9573188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ferith12/pseuds/Ferith12
Summary: A family is on their annual camping trip on the night a moon rises over Alderaan.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jedipati](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedipati/gifts).



> Letslipthehounds (jedipati) on Tumblr said something like "Send me fic title and I'll tell you what I would write for it." Sanerontheinside submitted Burning Skies, and letslipthehounds outlined a story where a family on Alderaan is having a pleasant, fluffy day when the death star happens. Of course I had to jump on the possibilities for pain.

It’s springtime in the mountains.  The the sun shines on the snow till it sparkles and melts, and the sun shines off the laughing water to flash and dance. Reila dares her cousin to swim in the stream that flows through their campsite and she does.  Her parents don’t even scold her, because it’s springtime camping and not a time to be cross.  They only wrap her in blankets and give her a fresh change of clothes.

It’s warm in the noonday sun, the grass is just beginning to peak out of the ground, pale shoots, delicate and soft, filling the air with the smell of dark, rich earth and bright, fresh green.  The children run barefoot across it exploring the rocks, searching for wildflowers the won’t come for at least a few weeks yet.

There’s still snow lying about, stubborn remnants, hidden in patches of dappled shade beneath the tall, new-leafed trees.  The two boys make a small, muddy snowman, that they christen Palpatine before punching its head off.  They are scolded for that; their parents are afraid. Reila, not wanting to be outdone by her cousin, makes a snow angel face downwards, and comes up for air blissfully cold, muddy and triumphant.

They eat lunch in the middle of the meadow, laughing and talking and watching the clouds, wispy, fluffy, gentle things, too shy to hinder the sunlight.  There are few birds as of yet, but they sing in the quiet: piercing, soft, lonely sounds, that are cheerful none the less.

Afternoon wears on, the air growing cooler, time growing slower.  Stella, who is only four, falls asleep in a patch of sun on a rock.  The thermatent is set up, and dinner is eaten over the campfire as the sky turns a lazy, darkling purple, the wisp-clouds touched with pink.

They all bundle into the thermatent as the sun sets over the valley below.  The boys and Stella fall asleep almost immediately, but Reila lays awake, enjoying the cozy, drowsy warmth and watching the stars through the transpariplas dome, so bright this high in the mountains, while the adults whisper comfortingly in the background.

For the first time in Alderaan’s history a moon appears in the sky.

It’s huge and bright, silver white.  It fills the meadow, illuminating the tent with a pale, mysterious sort of light.  It’s one of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring things Reila has ever seen. For half a moment Reila thinks she fell asleep without noticing and dreamed up this shining impossibility.  But it’s too spectacular and real to be a product of her own imagination.

She nudges her cousin awake and the two of them go outside the tent, huddled together in blankets, to stare up at this moon they’ve only heard of before in stories with shining, awe filled eyes.

And then the sky begins to burn.

It burns with bright, ravenous, curls of orange, and deep, ominous smolders of red, and furious, laughing flames of yellow, to outshine the moon itself.  The sky burns with terror, and it burns with majesty.

The two little girls stare up at the burning sky, and they know that they will die, but they will die amidst glory.


End file.
